45 replies to this topic

[Dark0ne]

Many months back now I found myself in Leicester Square in London (the place where the UK has all their big film premieres) with a few hours to burn, so I went to the Odeon and watched "Monsters". I knew nothing about the film but it looked like it might be a Cloverfield-type monster film, so I gave it a chance. It definitely wasn't a Cloverfield film, it was much deeper than that, and I thought it was quite a good film. A couple of months later I did some reading up on the film and found out it was made on a $500,000 budget. If I'd known the film had been made on such a small budget when I was watching it I'm pretty sure my jaw wouldn't have left the ground of the cinema -- there was no way I could tell. In this modern age of $200m+ blockbuster films it's often hard to give a chance to the smaller budget films as you expect so little from them. This concept sets the premise for this small promotional blog piece...

It's nice to keep up with some of the people I went to school with. At 25 most have jobs, some are married, have kids, etc. but it's great when you hear about the ones that have gone on to do stuff that they really enjoy and were good at. One particular friend, who I took French class with (and we regularly copied each other during vocab tests), has set up his own filming company called Realm Pictures and has started from the ground up. Just this year he's showcased his work at the Cannes film festival, which is a big deal, and won a £30,000 prize from Pepsi for this submission.

A few years back they created their first feature film. Almost 50 minutes long, it's a balls-to-the-wall zombie action flick called "Zomblies". Made on a £10k budget, they've done all the special effects themselves and used over 200 volunteers filming around the area I grew up in. It's the new "Monsters" for me. Made to add to their growing portfolio of work, they displayed the film in a local city cinema to 600 friends and family and the film hasn't been seen since. All that's changed now as they've posted the entire film on YouTube for everyone to watch for free.

If you like zombie flicks (which I definitely do) then give it a watch. I thoroughly enjoyed it. It's bloody in parts and there's some gratuitous use of swearing in quintessentially English accents throughout the film. All the special effects were done in-house by the group and they've blogged about all their techniques. There's some nice effects there. Most of the actors are volunteers and simply friends of the group, so give it a chance, give it some leeway (but honestly, it's not bad at all), and as David says, "Grab some popcorn, don't take it too seriously, and enjoy!".

[weijiesen]

sounds awesome!
Such flicks are always enjoyable for the whole family.
Hehehe, i hope no one really does take zombie films 'seriously' though.

Edited by weijiesen, 12 July 2011 - 11:41 AM.

[CheeseyBall]

I don't think they're bad at all. :3
All in all, pretty kewl

[antonkr]

Wow. That was nice!

[ub3rman123]

I like zombie games more than films. Zombie films, unless they're semi-serious mockeries like Zombieland or just plain mockeries like Shawn of the Dead, inevitably go too over the top with their undead. Zombie games are much more fun because it's hard to make them too over the top.

That movie was really good for a homemade-ish one.

[darksoul123]

i miss the george romero's zombies.

[2cooldays]

Wow pretty sweet, so you knew this guy?.. he married? lol

[DarthNato]

If you really like Zombie movies, I've got a suggestion. A couple of weeks back i watched a German Zombie movie called "Dead Snow" which can only be described as 'Gory and Awesome'.

[regi8401]

It depends. There are good zombie films, like Dawn of the Dead and Zombieland, then there are one's that aren't that great like Land of the Dead. Though, I think my favorite zombie-themed thing right now is The Walking Dead. I can't wait for Season 2

[GrizzlyDonut]

Great Film, good effects while i was watching it i was in zombie heaven which is a good thing because i haven't see a good zombie flick for awhile.